Entropy: The “Condition” of Business

Every business I know of is plagued by a continuing condition called “Entropy.”

I was reminded of this as I drove along a beautiful Tennessee backroad, on my way to church this morning.

Trying to decide on just the right topic for my blog this week, I was deep in thought about that, when I turned on the radio and heard a British voice, a Bible teacher, speaking about the “condition” of mankind, and what in his opinion is the root cause of the trouble.

What caught my attention was, that he camped out on that word “condition.” He described it like it was some ongoing, incurable ailment that could only be controlled by medication, diet or exercise.

Of course, being a Bible teacher, the “condition” he was referring to is also known as the doctrine of sin. “In order to keep this condition under control,” he said, “mankind needs to have a personal relationship with a specialist/physician,” that the teacher referred to as God.

So, what does that have to do with entropy in business? Everything! Read on…

The definition of “entropy” is…the predisposition of all matter and energy in the universe to evolve toward a state of chaos; the inevitable and steady deterioration of a system or entity.

Does that sound like YOUR business these days?

As a systems specialist, I’m able to aid and assist businesses in gaining control over this “condition” through systemization of business processes and, hopefully, with some wise counsel on the subject.

I’ve been studying how to deal with this entropy in business problem for over 15 years. With my team, we have identified many of the symptoms of this condition, and labeled them “system busters.” System busters are unwanted and sometimes unexpected events every business faces daily, no matter how large or small or sophisticated in organization.

EPhilip BeyerAuthor's page
Philip Beyer, founder/president of Beyer Printing and Ebiz Products LLC in Nashville, TN, is a chronic entrepreneur, business systems analyst and consultant, author of "System Busters: How to Stop Them in Your Business," and an InterTech Award recipient for the design and development of System100™ business process management software. Philip speaks to business owners across the country on how to bring lean, sustainable order to their businesses.